After years of planning, collaboration, and community involvement, Malden River Works Park is officially open!
On October 4, more than 300 people gathered along the Malden River to mark the opening of the city’s first public riverfront park. The afternoon included live music, family activities, remarks from community leaders, and pontoon boat rides along the river. It gave visitors a chance to spend time along a stretch of the waterfront that has long been difficult to access.
The new park gives residents a place to walk, gather, and experience the river up close. It also brings attention to an important part of Malden’s landscape and creates new opportunities for the community to connect to the waterfront.
In collaboration with Landing Studio and Horsley Witten Group, Offshoots provided horticultural and phytoremediation design for the park. The work began with a detailed look at the existing site vegetation and growing conditions. From there, we developed a planting strategy using native plants across eleven different planting communities. Each responds to site conditions and creates new habitat for wildlife.
Photo Credits (left to right): Isaiah Johnson, Daria Santollani, Agnieszka Rytych-Foster
The planting communities include bioswales, living shorelines, and urban hedgerows. These aren’t just planting areas. Each serves a purpose within the large landscape. Some help stabilize the shoreline and control erosion, while other support the phytoremediation of soil, air, and groundwater contamination. The planting also brings seasonal interest, with changing foliage, flowers, and fruit throughout the year. Together, they show how native planting can do more than add greenery to an urban site.
Malden River Works Park is also part of a larger effort to shape the future of the riverfront. The project aims to serve as a model for more equitable and resilient waterfront development in Malden. It also looks to influence future landscape projects and policy. We’re glad to have played a part in this work and look forward to seeing how the park develops over time!
Read more about the project here: Malden River Works